Not You
by InfiniteInspirit
Summary: Vincent never wanted Yuffie to be burdened with a demon. Yuffie just wanted to be with the man she loved. After a confrontation, Yuffie runs away and is not seen for years. When Vincent finds her, something is terribly wrong. HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

Hi! This is my first story, and I hope you guys might like it. Sorry if the characters are OOC, but I've never actually played the game.. hehe ^_^; I _have _watched Advent Children and watched my brother play half of DoC (he never finished it haha) and then I watched all the cut scenes on Youtube :D Well, enough of my babbling.... On with the story!

**Disclaimer: I will not, nor will I ever, own Final Fantasy VII (unless they realize that I'm just that awesome and they let me own it, but we all know that won't happen : P )**

_Enjoy :)_

* * *

She had kissed him, simple as that. He barely had time to register it because he had been trying to comprehend the words she had said before the kiss. The words that any normal person would have loved to hear from someone they cared about. But Vincent Valentine wasn't normal, was he?

"I love you... and don't go running off, muttering about sins and monsters."

He pulled away hesitently. She looked him in the eyes, her own wide, sincere and full of love. Love for him. He couldn't be with her and he knew it. She deserved a life of happiness with a whole man, not one that was broken, imperfect. He couldn't let her be burdened with a demon. "How could you love me? What have I ever done to earn your affections?"

"It's the little things, the big things, everything! I love how you communicate-- with your shrugs and nods and gestures. I love how you let me stay with you in the mansion when my father disowned me. I love how you put up with me when I know you'd rather be alone. I love you because you've saved my life so many times I can't even count. I love you for being you! Vincent McBrood Valentine!" she smiled at the name.

He couldn't let this happen. She deserved more than he could ever give her. He wanted to be her friend. That was as far as he could go without hurting her, but he saw no way that she would want to be his friend after what he was about to say. "You don't love me. You're young. Do you even know what love is?" he said coldly.

"I know you think I'm young, hell, everyone thinks I'm too young to even be spoken to as an adult! But guess what Vinnie? I'm twenty-two years old, and I admit, I had no idea what love was a few years ago, but then I got to know you, and I just knew."

"Yuffie, I don't think you _really_ know what love is. You want it to be love, when what is really is, is an _infatuation_."

"Maybe you just don't know what it's it's like to be loved by someone, considering Lucrecia chose Hojo--"

"Enough," he cut her off sharply and glared coldly at her. "Theres only one woman that I will _ever_ love, and you're _obviously_ not her, and you never will be. I don't love you. I _can't_ love you. You're not her." he saw the hurt in her eyes before she could put her carefully crafted mask on. He knew the hurt of unrequited love, and he wanted to protect her from it, but that was a hard thing to do when you are the one causing the pain. Seeing that look in her eyes pained him and at that moment, for a reason unknown to him, all he had wanted to do was take her in his arms and hold her, take back everything he had said, whisper sweet nothings about love and how they would be together forever. But the words he spoke were true, or so he tried to convince himself.

"Why can't you let go of the past?! She didn't love you! But I do! I'm right here! I always have been! Why can't you see that?!"

"I'm a monster Yuffie... I don't deserve happiness."

"Everyone can be labelled a monster! I can be a monster! I've killed people, and took them away from everything they could have been, I took them away from families, and sure it may have been for the greater good, but that doesn't make me feel any better!"

"You wouldn't understand--"

"Then make me understand! I want to understand you Vincent! Just let me in."

"You will never understand!" he snarled. "You'll never understand my life, my sins, my pain. You'll never understand how to truly love and you will never understand the true pain of unrequited love." he said the last part lower, turning away.

"I already know the pain of unrequited love. You've shown it to me quite clearly." she quickly swiped away a stray tear. "Believe me, I know how it feels to love. I love you so much, that I can't even explain it, and I love you so much, that it hurts to know that I probably have no chance at all with you. Let me ask you a question. How do you know what love is? Can you really say that what you felt for Lucrecia was love?" with that, she spun on her heel and walked out the front door.

~o~O~o~O~o~

It had been hours since their argument and Vincent was now worried. She had left so abruptly, that she left Conformer and it was now dark. She was out there, defenceless. Vincent knew better. She was far from defenceless. Even without Conformer, Yuffie was deadly. That still didn't stop him from worrying about her though.

He went to check her room, in case she snuck back in through the window. When he got to the top of the stairs, he saw her door was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and what he saw made him feel a pang somewhere in his chest for reasons he didn't know.

Yuffie was crouched by the open window. The room looked bare of the little belongings that Yuffie had. He guessed it was all in the bag that was slung across her shoulder. She saw him out of the corner of her eye. She turned, and crimson met silver. She gave him a small smile. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, and don't you forget it!" with a small wave, she flipped out the window.

He heard the small thud of her feet hitting the floor outside. He sighed, and then saw a note on the windowsill. He walked over and picked it up. It read "VINCENT" on the back in Yuffie's writing. Her writing, he mused, was unique, just like her. Some words were neat, and others were messy. There were big and small letters, smiley faces, hearts and flowers dotting the "i's." This note, however, held none of that. It was written in one neat font.

_**I'm leaving. I don't know when I'll see you again, or if I ever will again, but know that my feelings for you won't change. When you finally open your eyes, and let go of the past, just know, I will always wait for you.**_

_**Love**_

_**~The Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi **_

Another pang in his chest and an urge to go out and chase her took over him, and he stared out the window, not knowing what to do. After a minute, he jumped out the window as well, ready to bring her back and sort things out.

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Well? What did you think? Leave a little review and I will give you... cookies! And another chapter :)

**KawaiiCoconut**


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, me again :) Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and favorited. I didn't really think anyone would like it haha. I really appreciate it :D This chapter came up really fast because when I started writing this little fic, I already had up to chapter 2 done, but that's it so far... so the updates will be slower now. Sorry :(

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII... simple as that :)**

_Enjoy :)_

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She ran. She didn't know where she was going to go. She hadn't been to her home in such a long time. The way she left things with her father, she might never be allowed back again. That's why she had been staying with him. With the love of her life. With Vincent Valentine. But now, she couldnt even stay with him anymore. Not after what was said and done.

"_I don't love you."_

"_I can't love you."_

"_You will never be her."_

"_I. Don't. Love. You."_

The tears sprung back into her eyes. _'Stop it'_ she thought. '_I promised I wouldn't cry over this anymore.'_ She ran until she couldn't run anymore. She collasped in a clearing, not knowing exactly where she was, except that she had been running for over two hours. She could probably have run even farther, but she was weighed down with the words. His words. They cut into her every second, weakening her, cutting ever closer to her poor heart.

She heard a twig snap, and she was instantly alert. _'That's what years of training does. At least I'm still as sharp as ever.'_ She smirked and jumped into the tree branch above her head and took out her Conformer. She looked down into the clearing but couldn't see anything. She felt the tiniest of shifts in the tree branch. She sprang off of it in the blink of an eye, right before the branch was completely cut off from the tree and hurtled towards the ground.

She quickly spun around in the air and threw her weapon. She smirked when she heard an agonized roar. Expertly she flipped back into the air and effortlessly caught Conformer. As she landed back on the ground she saw a flash of light, and something hit her in the side of the head. She was barely consious when a mutated wolf beast came up beside her, bleeding from its left eye down to its muzzle. It picked her up by the scruff of her shirt and dragged her out of the clearing and brought her to what looked like to her, in her blurred vision, to be a man. The last thing she heard before she passed out was a voice. "Good boy. You've done very well."

~o~O~o~O~o~

Vincent searched. He searched for hours, maybe. He couldn't find her. He was really worried. Vincent knew that she could run fast, being a ninja and she could already be long gone, but when he saw a branch that was cut off a tree, the shuriken charm she had on her cell phone on the ground, the signs of a struggle, and blood, he knew he had to find her.

He never did.

~o~O~o~O~o~

She was another one of his sins. Another star in his endless night sky. He never found her, people assumed she was dead, and he would never forgive himself for not running after her sooner, for not working things out calmly so she wouldn't have left. Whenever he thought about it, the blame pointed to him. He couldn't avoid it. He spent the next seven years trying to help people. Trying to repent for his sins by fixing other people's lives. It never helped.

Vincent was travelling, just like he had years ago with AVALANCHE, only this time, he was by himself. Not a day went by when he missed hearing Yuffie's voice, yelling at him through the phone. Something he might possibly never hear again, and it was all his fault. Yuffie's light was gone from the world. After years of denial, of thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was still out there, somewhere, alive. Full of the hyperactivity, cheerfulness and smiles he could still remember as though she were right there with him. Spending years waking up everyday and thinking about her, wondering if she was still alive, if she was alright, if he would ever see her again. After all the years, he had finally accepted it. She was gone. And it was all his fault.

~o~O~o~O~o~

He had finished helping an elderly man with his chocobos, and he was hungry. He went through the town, looking for a place to eat, when he saw something familiar. An oversized shuriken strapped to the back of a figure with a cloak that had ears and yellow button eyes on the hood. The person was across the street, looking at materia.

"Yuffie?" he whispered to himself. The person turned and looked him in the eye as though they had heard him. The person quickly started walking down the street. Vincent followed her from the other side of the street and then crossed, stopping in front of her and making her stop in her tracks. He peered down, trying to get glimpse of her face, but the hood was in the way. The person side stepped him and started walking again. At that moment a forceful breeze blew by and blew the hood right off. Instantly, he knew it was Yuffie. She turned around and faced him, but what he saw frightened him, and Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk, didn't frighten easily. Yuffie's eyes were blank, void of emotion. They were a dull grey instead of the shining silver he once knew. Her face was more beautiful and mature than the last time he saw her, but it held no grin, no emotion, no life like he thought it would. Something was terribly wrong.

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Sorry, it's short, I know. I already wrote it, and then I found out that it was a lot shorter than I thought. Well, sorry to leave it at a cliffhanger, but... well, let's just say I got a little stuck :)

And again, the updates will come slower now. I've gotta babysit :)

Reviews please? I really love what people have to say about my writing :) It makes me feel pretty awesome haha :D and if you want to favorite, that's great too! Thaaanks :]

**_KawaiiCoconut_**


	3. Chapter 3

Hello all :) Thanks again to all of you who take the time to read, review and favorite. It really does make me happy because I don't really like showing people my writing because I get **_REALLY_** self conscious about what people think about my ideas and all, and then I read your positive reviews and see all the people who have favorited the story, or even favorited me (love you guys for that btw ^_^). So, I'm trying to get new chapters out there whenever I can, and currently, it is 1:34 in the morning, and this was the only time I could write.

I will stop talking now because I know some people don't like SUPER long author note thingies before a chapter starts.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Vinnie in his magical cape or Yuffie with her ninja skills : P**

**_enjoy :)_**

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"Yuffie...?" Vincent asked, not quite sure what to think of this change.

"Vincent. It's been a while." came her reply. Just like her appearance, her voice sounded lifeless, with no emotion.

"What... happened to you?" he whispered softly, thinking she wouldn't hear.

"Why would you care?" she turned her dull eyes upwards, looking him dead in the face, her own void of emotion. Vincent inwardly winced. She probably _would_think that he didn't care about her, after their last conversation. "Yuffie, I care because I'm your friend." was his reply. Her eyes stared into his, not wavering, burning a hole into his soul. It pained him, not seeing any trace of the old Yuffie at all in her. In fact, if you didn't know her, you would probably think that it was a different person.

Her eyes shifted to something behind him, and then went back to his. "Goodbye Vincent." she turned and started walking away, but this time Vincent wasn't about to let her go. He swiftly reached out and grabbed her wrist, turning her back around. As he pulled on her wrist to bring her back, her arm was exposed from underneath the cloak. His eyes widened slightly. There were many scars there, but one that stood out to him was one that stretched across her knuckles. The skin was raised and paler than the rest of her hand. "Yuffie... who did this to you?" he asked darkly. _'They are going to pay.'_

She ripped her arm away with surprising strength and started walking away again, this time faster. Vincent wouldn't let her go until he got answers. He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back again. She turned halfway and gazed at him. All of a sudden, she rammed into him, pushing him away before a kunai shot through the space he so recently occupied. He turned, expertly took out Cerberus and shot. It hit the man, not killing him, but he would be in pain. Vincent walked up to the man and picked him up by his collar. "Who are you and what do you want?" he fixed the man with an icy glare.

He ignored Vincent and looked at Yuffie. "Well, well, Yuffie Kisaragi. It's been a while. I was hoping to catch you off guard." Vincent looked back at Yuffie who was now behind him. "You know him?" he asked, motioning to the man. She walked up to the man and put her palm to his cheek. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. A white light illuminated her palm and the man's eyes slowly lost their light. "_Knew_ him." Vincent looked at her. She had never been able to do something like that. She had just killed someone just by touching them. Her face was still blank and he knew that when she killed anyone, her face held a mixture of pain and regret. _'What has happened to her?' _The body he was holding slowly started disintegrating, so he let it go, watching the particles blow away in the wind.

"Yuffie... I think we need to talk." he looked at her. She was looking at the setting sun. He marveled at her beauty. _'She must be twenty-nine by now, but she shows minimal signs of aging. She doesn't look a day over twenty-four.' _he thought to himself.

She brought her eyes up to meet his. "If that is what you want."

~o~O~o~O~o~

They decided to travel back to the mansion, since it was actually pretty close to where they were. The trip was made in silence and it felt foreign to Vincent. He had never had a silent moment when Yuffie was around. Even in her sleep, he remembered, occasionally she snored loudly when she was really tired, and all the other times, she talked in her sleep. Now, she was just looking straight ahead, not even glancing at Vincent. To say the least, he was freaked out. It didn't help that he was no good with words, so he didn't dare try to start a conversation, even though he so desperately wanted to hear her voice, even if it wasn't her _real_ voice.

They walked up the familiar path to the gates and pushed them open, continuing to the front door. It had been quite a while since Vincent himself had been there, so it took him a while to finally fish out the key from his bag. When they opened the door, dust began to flutter about. He made a mental note to either clean the mansion himself, or pay someone to clean it once in a while.

They went to the kitchen and Vincent started making dinner. Yuffie just sat at the table staring out the window. Even though Vincent could go days without speaking or hearing anyone's voice, the silence between them was killing him. He put the food on the table and started eating. He saw Yuffie look at the food and then eating a little of it herself.

After he put the dishes away, he sat down across from her at the table. "Yuffie, where have you been for all these years?"

* * *

Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter. I personally hated some parts but they're somehow crucial to the whole story, even though I don't really have all of it planned out yet : P I know where I want to go with this, but it's the matter of getting there :) And sorry for the cliffhangers for all of you who hate them. It just seemed like I should just stop it there. Don't shoot me! I want to live! (and give you the rest of the story ^_^) Anyways... goodniht!.

_Next Chapter: Yuffie's POV about what happened to her for the past seven years._

Reviews are greatly appreciated :D (and needed for a new chapter. You guys inspire me to write lol)

_**KawaiiCoconut**3_


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